“我对杰克逊将军任总统职之前景感到惊恐。就我所知，他是最不适合担当此职者之一。他对法条与制度少有重视，而实际上他是个称职的军事首长。他火气冲天。在我任议长时，他是个参议员，因脾气急躁，他就是不能条理分明地说话。有太多次，我看他是想好好的讲，却因为狂怒而呛咳。他的火气现在无疑是小多了；自我认识他起，他就一直试著控制自己的脾气，但他实在是个危险的人物。”

——托马斯·杰斐逊

Fellow Citizens:
公民们：

The will of the American people, expressed through their unsolicited suffrages, calls me before you to pass through the solemnities preparatory to taking upon myself the duties of President of the United States for another term. For their approbation of my public conduct through a period which has not been without its difficulties, and for this renewed expression of their confidence in my good intentions, I am at a loss for terms adequate to the expression of my gratitude.

美国人民通过自愿选举所表达的意志，要求我站在你们面前通过这一庄重的仪式，作为我连任合众国总统职务的准备。你们对我在一个不无困难的时期执政的情况表示认可，对我良好的愿望再次表示信赖，对此我实在找不出适当的言词来表达我的感激。

It shall be displayed to the extent of my humble abilities in continued efforts so to administer the Government as to preserve their liberty and promote their happiness. My experience in public concerns and the observation of a life somewhat advanced confirm the opinions long since imbibed by me, that the destruction of our State governments or the annihilation of their control over the local concerns of the people would lead directly to revolution and anarchy, and finally to despotism and military domination.

我将继续尽我微薄之力管理政府，维护你们的自由，促进你们的幸福，以此来表达我的感激之情。我任公职的经验和对生活的略微高超的观察证实了我长久以来所形成的观点，废除我们的州政府或者取消它们对地方事务的控制，必然会直接导致革命或无政府状态，最终则导致专制和军事控制。

In proportion, therefore, as the General Government encroaches upon the rights of the States, in the same proportion does it impair its own power and detract from its ability to fulfill the purposes of its creation.Solemnly impressed with these considerations, my countrymen will ever find me ready to exercise my constitutional powers in arresting measures, which may directly or indirectly encroach upon the rights of the States or tend to consolidate all political power in the General Government.

因此，如果中央政府侵害了各州的部分权利，也就损害了自身的部分权力，并减弱了部分的创造能力。如果同胞们切实铭记这些考虑，便会发现我准备行使我的宪法权力，以阻止那直接或间接侵犯州权、或企图加强中央政府政治权力的各种措施。

But of equal, and, indeed, of incalculable, importance is the union of these States, and the sacred duty of all to contribute to its preservation by a liberal support of the General Government in the exercise of its just powers. You have been wisely admonished to "accustom yourselves to think and speak of the Union as of the palladium of your political safety and prosperity, watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety, discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of any attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts."

但是，具有同等而且确实是无可估量重要性的是这些州的联合，以及所有各州都大力支持中央政府行使其公正的权力，以此来维护其联合的神圣职责。你们曾被理智地告诫过：“你们要习惯于像对待护佑你们政治上的安全与繁荣的守护神那样想到它或谈论它；要小心翼翼、无微不至地保护它：要驳斥一切抛弃它的想法，即使对它抱有丝毫怀疑亦不允许；要义正词严地反对刚冒头的、一切可能使我国的任何部分与其他部分疏远并削弱连接全国各地的神圣纽带的种种企图。”

Without union, our independence and liberty would never have been achieved; without union, they never can be maintained. Divided into twenty four, or even a smaller number, of separate communities, we shall see our internal trade burdened with numberless restraints and exactions; communication between distant points and sections obstructed or cut off; our sons made soldiers to deluge with blood the fields they now till in peace; the mass of our people borne down and impoverished by taxes to support armies and navies, and military leaders at the head of their victorious legions becoming our lawgivers and judges.

没有联合，我们的独立和自由就永远不会取得；没有联合，独立和自由也决得不到维护。如果我国分裂为24个独立的地区，或者即使数量上少一些，我们的国内贸易将为无数的限制和苛税所累；遥远的市镇与地区之间的通讯联系将受阻或被切断；我们的孩子将被迫当兵，使他们现在还在和平耕种的土地血流成河；人民为负担陆海军的赋税而陷入贫困，率领着得胜军团的军事领袖们将成为我们的立法者和审判官。

The loss of liberty, of all good government, of peace, plenty, and happiness, must inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union. In supporting it, therefore, we support all that is dear to the freeman and the philanthropist. The time at which stand before you is full of interest. The eyes of all nations are fixed on our Republic.

随着联邦的解体，我们将不可避免地失去自由，失去这绝好的政体，失去和平、富裕和幸福。因此，支持联邦，我们就支持了自由人和博爱主义者所珍视的一切。我站在你们面前的这一时刻充分地引起了人们的注意。世界各国的目光都在注视着我们的共和政体。

The event of the existing crisis will be decisive in the opinion of mankind of the practicability of our federal system of government. Great is the stake placed in our hands; great is the responsibility which must rest upon the people of the United States. Let us realize the importance of the attitude in which we stand before the world. Let us exercise forbearance and firmness. Let us extricate our country from the dangers which surround it and learn wisdom from the lessons they inculcate.

目前这个危机的结果将决定全人类对我们联邦制政府的可行性的看法。置于我们手中的赌注是巨大的；置于美国人民肩上的责任是重大的。让我们意识到我们对全世界表明的这种态度的重要性。让我们运用我们的克制态度和坚定信念。让我们将我们的国家所从处的危险中解脱出来，从这些危险所反复说明的教训中汲取智慧。

Deeply impressed with the truth of these observations, and under the obligation of that solemn oath which I am about to take. I shall continue to exert all my faculties to maintain the just powers of the Constitution and to transmit unimpaired to posterity the blessings of our Federal Union.

这些观察所得出的道理给我留下深刻的印象。既然我必须对我即将作的庄严誓词负责，我将继续竭尽全力维护宪法所规定的正当权力，将我们合众国的福扯无损地传至后代。

At the same time, it will be my aim to inculcate by my official acts the necessity of exercising by the General Government those powers only that are clearly delegated; to encourage simplicity and economy in the expenditures of the Government; to raise no more money from the people than may be requisite for these objects, and in a manner that will best promote the interests of all classes of the community and of all portions of the Union.

 同时，我的目标是，以我的官方行动，反复灌输中央政府只行使明确地授予它的权力的必要性；鼓励政府节俭开支；不向人民征收超过达到这些目标所需要的款项，最大限度地提高社会各阶级和联邦各州的利益。

Constantly bearing in mind that in entering into society "individuals must give up a share of liberty to preserve the rest," it will be my desire so to discharge my duties as to foster with our brethren in all parts of the country a spirit of liberal concession and compromise, and, by reconciling our fellow citizens to those partial sacrifices which they must unavoidably make for the preservation of a greater good, to recommend our invaluable Government and Union to the confidence and affections of the American people.

我们要时刻牢记，在进入社会“个人必须放弃一份自由以维护其他人的自由，”我的愿望将是履行我的职责，并和全国各地的同胞们一起，培养一种宽容谦让的精神。使我们的公民安心于为维护更大的利益而必须做出部分的牺牲。从而使我们宝贵的政府和联邦能博得美国人民的信任和爱戴。